Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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Detroit General Meetings, November 23, 1962. Gospel Meeting.
Hymn #4. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me. Long I was chained in sins, darkness. Now by His grace I am free. Now I can say I am pardoned, happy and justified free. Saved by my blessed Redeemer. This is the Savior for me #4.
Christ is the Savior of Savior.
For me.
Oh my God.
Nobody is breakthrough.
Look at the crucified One. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look Sinner. Look under him and be saved Unto him who was nailed to the tree we rise again, and sing #26.
There is life.
All right for you.
Microsoft.
So death passed upon all men, for that all have sins.
Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. What a solemn, solemn statement this is, and how very easy to be understood the Word of God tells us all have sinned.
The other evening we were accused of using language which men and women of this present day could not understand.
Such old fashioned out of date words as saved and born again. I was disturbed to hear a remark like that out of date words in this present day in which we live. Oh my friend, I'm going to make no apologies for what I find in this book. Nor shall I dare to change the language used by our Lord Jesus Christ and used by inspiration within the pages of this book, God says.
All have sinned.
That's not difficult to understand. That takes us from Adam to the end of man's history.
And according to God's own statement, all have sinned.
And God is fully qualified to put a statement like that in this book. God has looked down upon the very thoughts and intents of the heart of man.
From the moment Adam first drew breath until this present day, God has looked down from heaven and seen and heard all that has taken place, and God has recorded that all have sinned. Now, I don't believe there's anyone here that would deny such a statement. I don't suppose there's anyone here that would stand up and claim that you know of someone somewhere. Whose every thought whose?
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Every word, and whose every deed has been pure and holy and perfect, in the very sight of God Himself.
It's not too hard to bow to a statement like this, is it? It's rather a broad, rather a general statement it takes in all of mankind, and so perhaps it's not too difficult for us to realize that it is true. But, my friend, the word of God comes a little closer still than to tell us that all have sinned. Will you turn back to First Samuel? First Samuel?
The 7th chapter.
And the sixth verse.
First Samuel Chapter 7 and verse 6.
And they gathered together to Mispa, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there.
We have sinned against the Lord, and Samuel judged the children of Israel in Misbah. Here we have an expression that brings it just a little closer home. We have sinned. It is true indeed, my friend, that all have sinned, But perhaps for the moment, forgetting about those neighbors who are not here tonight, forgetting about those whom this world wouldn't point a finger at, and considering those of us who are gathered here in this assembly room.
Is it true that in the sight of God, everyone of us can say together we have sinned? Would you be willing to join in that statement? I believe that's what God's word would lay upon us tonight. Each and every one of us present in this company before gone ought to be willing to bow our heads before the truth of this book and say we have sinned. Our beloved friend, the message of God's heart for you and for me is a message of marvelous love and grace and pardon.
But it will have no charm for your heart. It will have no meaning to you unless you are willing to own the truth of God's Word that we have found in these two verses that under the eye of God tonight you and I have been found.
Guilty. That's a word that's also easy to understood, and it's found in God's Word.
Guilty, my friends. Guilty, I say, on the sight of God. How solemn that is in this very room, this very moment, your heart and mine is either guilty and stained with sin, or it's cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.
Before we go any farther in this meeting, how is it with you? How is it with you, my dear boy? Is that heart of yours? Is that heart of yours, my dear girl? Is it cleanse from every stain of sin, or are you guilty before gone? Let's come just a little closer still by turning to the 15th of Luke.
The 15th chapter of Luke.
And the 21St verse.
And the Son.
The wayward prodigal son said unto him, Father.
I have sinned, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight.
And am no more worthy to be called thy son. Now we're down.
Closer still, here we find the language that I long to have heard from your heart. I have sinned all, my beloved friend. God is looking down at you and me to night, and God longs to hear that language from the heart of someone in this company. It's not too difficult to look around and say, yes, it's true that all have sinned. Perhaps it's just a little easier to say we have sinned, but to come right down to the language of this verse and say in the presence of God.
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I have sinned. Have that moment come in your experience?
Thank God it has in mind. I look back to the time when as a boy.
Brought up in a Christian home, I had the burden and the knowledge.
That my heart was stained with sin as we were down in the basement this evening praying for this gospel meeting one after another prayed for.
The children of the Saints. Do you know what that means? I'll tell you what it means, my dear boy, It means you.
It means the boys and the girls, the sons and the daughters who are here in this meeting room, whose father or mother knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And at this very moment, in the depths of your heart, you know that you've never had to do with God about your own sinful guilty condition. Perhaps it is with you that was with me when I was a boy. I remember listening to the gospel addresses.
I remember the burden of my heart as I realized that I was a Sinner. I remember the terror of my soul as I knew that I was LOST, lost.
And would go home from a gospel meeting with the fear in my soul that I was on my road to hell.
The door. I thank God for those who prayed for the children of the Saints. I thank God for those who prayed for the sons and daughters.
The fathers and mothers who are under the shelter of the blood of Christ, and my heart is burdened once more tonight for these dear boys and girls.
Even the dear young people who are sitting in this meeting room with a Bible in your hand.
And you don't yet know your sins forgiven. You don't yet know the Lord Jesus as your savior.
And as you've heard throughout the day, the glorious promise of the near return of our Lord Jesus Christ, it has had no charm for you. You've tried to put that thought out of your mind because you know you're not ready. You know that if the shout came this very evening, this very moment, those in this meeting room who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior would be God gone home in the twinkling of an eye.
And my friend, you left behind, left behind with that Bible, but with a closed door.
It's a solemn, solemn thing. It's a solemn thing to sit in a gospel meeting like this and to know in your own soul that you've never yet in God's presence, said I have sinned, but all my friend, the glorious news of the gospel, I long to tell it forth. We find that when this dear young man said, Father, I have sinned, What a glorious response, the whole being of that father.
Went out in love to that dear son, even when he saw him afar off.
What was the response he saw on afar off and had compassion on him.
And ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Isn't that a glorious verse? In some little measure I've tasted something of that. He saw him with his eyes of love. He had compassion on him with his heart of love. He ran with his feet of love and embraced him with arms of love and kissed him with lips of love. The whole being of that father went out to that dear son who was returning with the language in his heart. Father, I have sinned.
And I want to tell you, my dear friend tonight that if only you will only for God the truth of this statement. If only you will bow and say I have sinned. There's forgiveness for you. There's pardon. There's a welcome. There's more than my tongue can ever tell you. But first of all, there must be an owning of your guilty condition. As I look into your faces tonight, I wonder if you've ever felt.
The solemn reality of what it means to be guilty and lost before God.
I was in the hospital the other day on Tuesday, visiting a dear man. His wife was standing by his bedside.
He had had an operation and he was awaiting the verdict of the doctor.
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As to whether he would recover or whether the case was beyond hope.
That's quite an answer to wait for, and I spoke to that dear man about the Lord Jesus.
And tried to put it to him like this. I said, Sir, suppose when you went to the doctor, he took your pulse, he took your temperature, he took your blood pressure and a number of tests, X-rays and so on, and told you to return in a few days for the answer for the diagnosis. And after a few days you go back into the doctor's office and you see him looking very solemn. You see him looking very, very sober.
And he looks at you then and says, Sir, I'm afraid you won't like what I have to tell you.
It's much worse than I expected and a good deal worse than you expected. You know, Sir, by the time the Doctor gets that far, you feel pretty miserable in here. You feel pretty unhappy. You're afraid of what the Doctor's going to tell you, but you want him to tell you the truth. And he does. And then he says, now, don't let it bother you. I have a remedy here. And he produces a remedy that he absolutely assures you will make you completely Well, we both agreed that we'd go a long way to find a doctor like that.
That Doctor Who would honestly and truthfully tell us the condition of our bodily needs, and be able also to tell us that he has an assured remedy. Now, dear friend of God, dear friend, we went on to tell that dear man, And we want to tell you tonight that the first thing you must do is to own before God the truth of what he has to say. For when he points the finger down from his home in the glory, and begins to tell us that which he sees in this heart.
Perhaps we shrink from it. Perhaps we feel, Oh no, it's not that bad, It's not that serious. I know a lot of other people much worse than I am.
My friend, I beg of you to allow the finger of God to probe to the very depth of your heart until you're able to bow before this verse and say I have sinned to bow before the truth of God's word, that there is none righteous, no, not one, but all the glorious news of forgiveness. That's what I long to tell you, although the word of God proclaims this guilt.
Precious, glorious book tells us of a free and a full forgiveness. Let's turn to the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 4.
And the last verse.
Last verse of Ephesians 4.
And be kind one to another.
Tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God.
For Christ's sake hath forgiven you. I love to read this verse, because I believe it presents to us in the last few words the author of that wonderful forgiveness that you and I rejoice in. God, for Christ's sake hath forgiven you, the author, I say, of the forgiveness which so many of us rejoice in.
Who is it? It's God himself. It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? And when we read this language, for Christ's sake, let us not get the impression that the Lord Jesus played with God to display a forgiving spirit. All far be the thought. God's own tender loving heart yearn to forgive you, my dear friend. And the desire of God's heart has been realized in this poor one that stands before you.
For my sins are all forgiven, and I can stand here tonight and say, by the grace of God, it is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? Could I have peace if it were otherwise? Could I have comfort and joy in my soul, unless I knew that the very God against whom I had sinned, the very God who knew all about me, put in his precious word this wonderful language?
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God for Christ sake.
Has forgiven you. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that delightfully personal? I can put my finger on this verse and say this is the heart of God, the author of forgiveness displaying itself to me. The heart of God, I say, Oh my friend. When I speak of that, I feel so unable to tell it out. If only you knew the heart of God.
The very one who so faithfully throughout this book tells us of our need.
Tells us of our guilt, tells us of our lost conditions. That same God looks down upon poor fallen guilty man. Looks down upon this company, Looks down upon you and longs to forgive you, longs to have you know the quiet peace, the wondrous joy of sins were given. I say again, this doesn't charm your soul. This doesn't mean much to you.
Unless you've known what it is to feel a burden of those sins. Unless you have known what it is to be in the presence of God about the guilt of your heart. Oh, my dear young man, have you ever been in the presence of God about the guilt of your heart in his sight?
I tremble, I tremble as I see the dear young people and the dear boys and girls come and go at these meetings.
For I I feel deeply burdened. Do you really know what it is?
To rejoice in the knowledge of a God that delights to forgive sin. Do you rejoice in the knowledge that your sins are forgiven you for his namesake? Well, we find here God, for Christ sake, hath forgiven you, and in this same epistle, the first chapter and the seventh verse.
Ephesians one and verse 7 in whom we have.
Redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to.
The riches of His grace. Could we not say that this would show us the cause of this wondrous forgiveness that we rejoice to tell about in the gospel? The author of that forgiveness is God himself. And the cause? What is it according to the riches of His grace? Why does He forgive? Because we're worthy of it.
Because we have repented sufficiently. Because we have begged for it. Oh, it is according to the riches of His grace, not according to anything that he has seen in our hearts, or there has been nothing there but guilt But God, according to the riches of his grace, delights. To forgive takes pleasure in it. Oh, my friend, I say, This night is a joy to me to look into the faces of those who know God.
As a loving God filled with riches of His grace, who know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and for a long time you have rejoiced in the knowledge of sins forgiven.
What about those here who are not yet in the enjoyment of that wondrous forgiveness?
Are your hearts? Is my heart burdened as we ought to be about this matter?
We read in the 12Th of Exodus of the judgment of God, which was about to fall upon the land of Egypt.
We read of the Israelites who took the blood of that slain lamb and sprinkled it upon the lentil and the two side posts, and then we come to a solemn verse. Let him and his neighbor next unto his house.
His neighbor next unto his house. If the household be too little for the lamb, what about your neighbor? What about my neighbor? Which neighbor next unto his house? It's very specific, the very man.
Who lives next door to you? Has he ever heard about the Lord Jesus from you?
As my neighbor heard about the Lord Jesus from me, if this forgiveness is as real as we know it is, thank God.
Why are our hearts not more burdened about those who are still guilty in the sight of God? All that it were more of a reality to us, the knowledge, the joy of sins, forgiven through the tender heart of God. May God grant it all our hearts may be more burdened to make it known to others. So I believe, we find that the author is God, and the cause is the wondrous riches of His grace.
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I would like to emphasize that, for I feel that perhaps through faulty illustrations that we ourselves are guilty of.
We've left the wrong impression that God was a God who was going to bring down the rod of judgment upon poor guilty sinners like ourselves. And the Lord Jesus stepped into our room and stand and bore the judgment of God. And so we are forgiven.
Does that sound like the gospel? There's a serious error in that illustration, and I believe it's this, that the very heart of the God against whom I had sinned loved me. And although His Holiness and his righteousness demanded judgment against sin, who was it that supplied a substitute? Who was it? For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
I suppose there are many who really do know their sins forgiven, and they are most thankful to the Lord Jesus for the wondrous work of redemption.
But they never have learned the heart of God. They've never learned that it was God's own heart and the riches of his grace that was able to offer, through the work of Christ, this wondrous, this eternal forgiveness. Let's turn to the 13th chapter of Acts.
The 13th chapter of the Acts.
And the 38th verse.
2.
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin.
Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
I believe I can say it in truth. Not all of God himself was the author of this mighty forgiveness.
Although the cause was the exceeding grace of his own heart, yet God himself must find a righteous means whereby a poor guilty rebel like you and me could possibly receive forgiveness. God himself could not offer forgiveness to poor sinners like you and me, unless a righteous basis could be found in order that God might be able to show.
The exceeding riches of his grace be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through.
This man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins through this man. Oh my friend, what a story this is. This presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God through this man. My heart is bowed as I read these words.
It melts my heart to take it in. It challenges my lips to tell it out.
Through this man God looked down from heaven upon a poor guilty sin stained rebel like me, and I trust you're willing to say the same. And such was the love and the grace of God's own heart that he sent into this world, this man, his own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You have enjoyed reading of it, and so have I.
We see him born and cradled in a Manger in Bethlehem. And what happened? Why, a multitude of the heavenly hosts burst forth into praise. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, Goodwill toward men. What a nod of praise as the angels look for the first time upon their creator, a little babe in a Manger in Bethlehem. But there's something rather unusual about the end of that pathway.
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Angels are there also. We come to the empty tomb. We find the stone has been rolled away, and the message is he is not here. He is risen. The one who was born in Bethlehem has trodden the pathways of this world that led to the cross of Calvary. He's risen, and there at his tomb there are two angels in white sitting. What about the notes of praise? What about the multitude of the heavenly host? Where are they?
Why this silence? I believe my friend, It would be this.
That when the angels looked upon their Creator, they were called upon to praise and worship as they saw him for the first time.
But as they stand at the empty tomb, I believe the angels realize this work was not for us. This triumph is not ours to rejoice in. This is for for poor, fallen, sinful man. Then may I say the angels stand by in silence and wait for you and me to raise a note of praise. They wait to hear our voices raised in praise and Thanksgiving in songs which never could come from their lips.
For the one who loved us and died that we might be forgiven is risen. Now, my friend, you tell me you're a Christian. You tell your father that you're saved. You've told your Sunday school teacher that you're saved. Do you ever find your heart welling up in Thanksgiving and in praise?
To him who loves you enough to send his son to redeem you, do you find it the joy of your heart to get down on your knees and thank him day by day?
For that which is wondrous, grace is wrought for you. Don't tell me you're a Christian.
Don't tell me you're saved if it's just simply a confession that has been wrung out of you as we were hearing this afternoon.
You know, when I was a little boy, I used to go visiting with my father quite a bit.
And there were quite a few occasions when this happened, but I remember 1 quite specifically.
He was visiting a Mr. and Mrs. Anderson in Westborough. Mrs. Anderson was my Sunday school teacher.
And all of a sudden Mr. Anderson turned to my father and he said, is your boy? Albert saved? And I looked at father with a smile. I thought, I know what he'll say, but he didn't, he said. Well, he tells me he is. That's all he said. I felt disappointed. I thought he would have said, oh certainly my son is saved. He's told me he is, But I thank God now that he answered that way, he tells me he is.
Dear father, dear mother, that boy of yours, that girl of yours, that young one sitting with you in this meeting room tonight.
Are they really the Lord? Can you see by the testimony of their lives that they know the reality?
The sins forgiven through the precious blood of Christ. Oh, I believe that it is in order for us to be very, very solemn about this matter tonight. What a dreadful thing it would be.
To deceive Father and Mother and Sunday School Teacher, and to know deep down in your own heart that you've never yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior through this man is preached unto you again. How delightfully personal.
How can that be? You and I know that God, according to the holiness and the purity of His eternal throne, cannot possibly overlook sin. He is a pure eyes than to behold iniquity. And yet we find forgiveness so gladly offered in this precious book, and the answer is found here through.
This man.
It takes my thoughts back to the 32nd chapter of Isaiah. And there we find prophetically these lovely words. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and are covered from The Tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Oh the finger of prophecy points onward to the one that we're reading about here. And then we find that same blessed man.
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The Son of God come down among us. We find him standing in Pilates judgment hall. He's bound and Pilot presents him to the multitude and says, behold the man, behold the man. What a sad picture. There's a man of Isaiah's prophecy and he's standing on trial. And Pilate says, behold the man. And when they beheld him, they cried away with him.
Crucify him, my beloved friend, I want to say to you tonight, Behold.
The man, the man Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of the living God, come down.
Beating of God his Father, in order that you and I might know the assurance of sin, the eternally forgiven.
I often picture it God looking down upon that holy spotless pathway.
God looking down and seeing his beloved son prostate in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Sweating, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, and saying, oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. What did the eye of God see at that very moment? God looked down upon his beloved Son, loved with a love far exceeding anything you or I have ever known, that I believe. At the same moment God looked down and saw those torches being lighted.
Saw those weapons being girded, they were going to come forth and take that blessed man. God saw it all take place. God knew what was in the heart of man, and yet God looked upon his beloved Son in anguish of spirit at the prospect.
Of receiving the cup which I deserve to receive, of bearing the judgment which I deserve to have borne, God looked on upon it. But God loved you, and God loved me for such an infinite love. So great was the riches of his grace that God allowed that beloved Son to rise from the Garden of Gethsemane and go onward to the cross of Calvary. And there, my friend.
The one who upheld the pillars of the universe was spit upon by men.
How can God forgive? Oh, if it were not for the riches of his grace? There had been no forgiveness to night. There had been none for you. There'd been none from me. I marvel at the grace of God when I think of that which is I saw heaped upon his beloved son from sinners just like me. They crowned him with thorns. They nailed into the cross, and then and not till then.
Did God deal with him about sins?
You and I will never know what the real ******* of sin and darkness means. Thank God for that. There is a *******. There is a slavery. There is a power. It's spoken of in the word of God. But God knew all about it. God saw you. God saw me chained with the chains of sin and slavery under the very power of darkness. But it was not within God's power to reach down into that darkness and ****** me out from it.
It was not within God's power to break those chains that I might be delivered.
God must become a man in the person of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That I see, that blessed Son of God, standing and saying, This is your hour and the power of darkness. And he bowed his wholly devoted head under the very power of darkness, in order that you might even hear about forgiveness, in order that you might have forgiveness offered to you tonight. Have you ever thought, even in some little measure, my dear friend, of what it cost God, that you and I might find?
Verses such as these within his precious book.
God the giving of his beloved Son. It cost God the forsaking.
Of that holy, sinless, devoted one upon the cross.
Until we hear that cry. My God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me, His forgiveness a light thing?
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Is it something that we heard about and received quite a few years ago, but we've learned so much since that forgiveness has no great charm for us now?
I trust it's not so. I believe that those here present who have long rejoiced in the knowledge of sins forgiven.
Would certainly say with me that it's still a very precious reality to you. I know that it is. But the first step I know as a boy when the Lord Jesus saved me, that the two great joys of my heart were these. One was my sins were gone. The other was that I was going to be in heaven instead of hell, which I feared and justly so. That was 35 years ago, and I thank God I stand here tonight by His wondrous grace.
And perhaps have learned a little more of what that wondrous heart has.
For me, those things which are now mine to rejoice in, but I've never never advanced, shall I say, beyond the point where I enjoy the fact that God, against whom I had sinned, found it the joy of his heart.
Forgive me through this man. Isn't that glorious? Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
Let's turn to the First Epistle of John.
First Epistle of John, the Second chapter.
And the 12Th verse.
I write unto you, little children.
Because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake.
Now I know that the hand that held the pen when this verse was written.
Was that of the beloved Apostle John. But I believe I can take the liberty of justice receiving this verse.
As though it were written from the very heart of God to me.
And I love the language here. I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. We've seen in God's precious word the universal guilt of all mankind. We've seen in God's word the stains of sail every one of us present. And I hope we've seen. I hope you have seen, my friend, that God wants you to say I have sinned.
I hope you have considered the state of your own heart in the sight of God tonight. I say again, stained with sin or washed whiter than snow in the blood of Christ, either one or the other, this very moment. And then we've seen God, the author of that forgiveness which he wants you to know. We've seen the cause of it, the rich and matchless grace of his loving heart.
We have seen the means by which God has been able to offer salvation.
Through this man, and now I believe in this verse, we find that which would give the assurance of forgiveness.
Would it be all right just to put your finger on this verse and say, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake? Am I entitled to do that? I believe I am. I will say that the verse used of God to the saving of my guilty soul was John 524. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word.
And believeth on him that set me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. But isn't this another glorious verse? If you, having found the guilt of your heart in His sight, if you have realized tonight that God wants to forgive you, that at the cost of his own beloved Son, he offers you forgiveness?
Will you receive it? Will you accept it? I don't ask you to beg for it. God doesn't ask you to do anything for it except simply to receive it. And then lay your finger upon this verse as though it were written by the very heart of God for your personal enjoyment.
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I right under you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
Believe that God puts language in Scripture that is intended for the young ones to lay hold of. And I believe we wouldn't be misapplying the thought of this verse if we said that God intends us still to rejoice in the sweetness of it. I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I will say this.
That Satan harassed me with doubts for some little time. I don't know whether I'm alone in saying this or not. I've heard other people say that they never, never had a doubt, but I did. Satan used to trouble me, and I used to think in my boyish mind. Oh, if only I had something real, something that included my own name. If only I were personally and individually told that my sins were gone and I were going to heaven.
I would then feel more assured.
Well, you know, someone one day showed me a letter. I didn't recognize the handwriting nor the content.
But they said, look at the signature on this letter, and to my astonishment, the signature was the very same as my own. I didn't know anyone else had the same queer name that I have, but apparently someone does. There was a letter written with my very name of the bomb mail from somewhere I had never been in my life, a handwriting and a content that I was utterly unaware of. And you know, I thought as I looked at that letter now if I had read somewhere.
That my own name, my sins were all forgiven and I was on my way to heaven. Where would I be now?
Oh, I think it probably doesn't mean me at all, but I thank God for the wonderful, wonderful school.
Of God's precious Word, Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners? Isn't that good enough for you and me? Thank God it is.
I'm ever so glad for the wondrous, plain and simple language of God's Word, and I make no apologies for it.
Let's turn back for a moment to the 4th chapter of Romans.
For justice, one more verse.
The 4th chapter of Romans and the seventh verse.
We have seen in first John 2 The assurance of forgiveness which God wants you to possess.
And now in this 4th chapter, I believe we see the result.
That ought to be known in the lives of those who are forgiven. Blessed are they.
Whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered?
Now isn't that glorious? Where does that place us? Oh, it places us in a position where we are now.
Entitled to this glorious word, blessed or happy? I like to put it that way. Happy are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. I want to tell you, by God's matchless grace, that in the 35 years that I have known the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, in the 35 years since the burden of my sins were rolled away, I say this verse is gloriously true.
It's a happy thing to be redeemed. It's a happy thing to be pardoned. It's a happy thing to be forgiven. Oh, my dear young friend, I know that there is an enemy whispering in your ear as he whispered in the ear of Eve, telling you that what God offers is a restricting and a narrow thing, that there are happinesses and pleasures to be found elsewhere. But we heard this afternoon and I say Amen to it.
That there's joy and happiness here as well as up there.
To be found in the one who died that you and I might be forgiven.
Just a few days ago someone gave me an article briefly describing.
The 6th most wealthy man in the world.
One was a king 2 where Arabian sheiks one was an Indian Prince.
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One with a German industrialist and one was the American.
His name was Slipped Me Getty Paul Getty Income. One of those men is a little bit over $1,000,000 a day.
An income of over $1,000,000 per day. And the account was given as to how these men used their money. And to my astonishment, this article was written by a man of the world. He said the one thing common to the six billionaires was that they all had sad faces. Sad faces? Wasn't that strange? And yet, in a way it wasn't strange.
I have seen some sad faces and I have seen some very happy faces.
And I believe that's what's meant here. Happy is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Oh, my beloved friend, if you want the joy of knowing sins forgiven, now in a home with Christ in glory forever, it's yours to be received this very night, it's yours to be received. Are you going to go out the door of this place with that heart of yours still stained with sin? When God.
At such a cost.
Has offered you once more the eternal, glorious forgiveness of all your sin. Oh, I know there's a lot more to it than that, and my soul would love to tell it out where I stand here, not only forgiven, but redeemed to God by the death of his Son. I'm a child of God, and may I say it, the very heart of God delights to call me one of his children.
Any delights to have me look up and address him as my father and he's going to find his own eternal delight.
Not in the beauties of a new creation, but in having a redeemed.
Family and the Lord Jesus Christ, that man.
Whom forgiveness is offered. He has a destined bloodbath bride, and you and I form part of that bride. I say these things ought to rejoice our heart. We're spoken of as members of His body, and we're given the privilege of showing forth that truth in the way, and in the place of His own appointment. We're spoken of as living stones in the Church.
Oh, what glories and blessings are ours as the result of the grace of God's heart?
And the mighty work of Calvary.
We have simply spoken of forgiveness tonight.
And it's a wonderful, wonderful thing that all my friend, I just must close by telling you.
That is just the first thing God has to offer, but it is what you need.
Yes, it is my friend, all word to God that every soul here might feel individually, in God's presence, constrained to answer that question, What about the stain of your sins? Has it been forgiven? God, the author, at such a cost, offers to you this night the forgiveness of all your sins. And I want to leave you with that verse. How shall we escape?
How shall we escape if we neglect S?
So great salvation. It's yours to be received. It's yours to accept.
I suppose when this meeting is over, there will be another meeting announced for tomorrow evening.
When God alone knows whether it will come to pass, God alone knows whether you or I will be here to listen to it.
And so I beg of you tonight that in view of the fact that you have been offered.
From the God who sent his Son into this world, that you might be pardoned, that you receive as a gift, forgiveness through the precious blood of Christ.
We sing hymn #12.
Just as I am without one please, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou ***** me come to thee. O Lamb of God, I come, we rise and sink #12.